In the mean time, I visited NYC for the conference of the American Educational Research Association, but also stopped by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which has an amazing musical instrument collection, including this beautiful horn:

The NYTimes does it again: a great copyright caper that gets into rights as they are experienced by college marching and pep bands. Here’s a juicy quote, followed by a link:

In theory, bands need to get approval and pay for the rights to use songs. They often start with the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (Ascap) or Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI), which license music and distribute royalties to songwriters and composers. They deal with sheet-music publishers, such as Hal Leonard or Alfred Publishing, which combine to control the majority of the popular-music catalog.

Rights to a song can cost $50 to $350, according to Jeni Paulson, president of CopyCat Music Licensing. Her company, a type of middleman, works with many Pac-10 and Big Ten band directors. They call, usually in the summer after making a wish list for the coming school year, and say which songs they want to use. CopyCat does the research on licensing and returns with a price.

Some artists and songs are simply off limits. Van Halen’s “Jump” is a popular request, but always denied. So are the works of the composer John Williams, meaning that the familiar chords of “Jaws,” “Star Wars” or “Raiders of the Lost Ark” should not be heard blaring through arenas.

Many lovers of science fiction and fantasy are mourning recent passing of Gary Gygax (creator of Dungeons and Dragons) and Arthur C. Clarke (science fiction writer perhaps best known for the film 2001: A Space Odyssey).

The New York Times quotes Clarke talking about the relation of imagination to technological progress in a way that music educators might enjoy:

Mr. Clarke was well aware of the importance of his role as science spokesman to the general population: “Most technological achievements were preceded by people writing and imagining them,” he noted. “I’m sure we would not have had men on the Moon,” he added, if it had not been for H.G. Wells and Jules Verne. “I’m rather proud of the fact that I know several astronauts who became astronauts through reading my books.”

Here is a link to the video that we watched in class on Thursday. I highly recommend checking out some of the videos on TED’s website. They are very inspiring and thought-provoking. In addition to this one, be sure to check out the talk done by Evelyn Glennie.